The outer hall of Kunning Palace.
Just as Chen Huai'an sat down, Marquis Zhongyi, Xiao Po, rushed over, performed the kneeling ceremony, and reported in a low voice:
"Your Majesty, Hu Dalin, the vanguard general under Liu Ziyu, the deputy general of the Longcheng Southern Expeditionary Army, broke into the palace in a drunken stupor and clashed with Wu Feng, the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards and the Earl of Guangling, who was guarding the palace gate. In the process, Hu Dalin accidentally killed the Earl of Guangling!"
"What?"
Even Chen Huai'an, who had been cultivating his mind day and night recently and thought he could keep his emotions in check, couldn't help but frown slightly after hearing the news brought by Xiao Po.
He had guessed that Xiao Po's late-night visit must mean something big was about to happen.
However, Chen Huai'an never expected that an arrogant and fierce soldier would break into the palace at night and kill the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard on the spot.
To put it mildly, this was just a drunken brawl caused by arrogant and unruly soldiers.
To put it bluntly, this is practically a rebellion!
Chen Huai'an immediately asked, "Xiao Po, when did this happen?"
Xiao Po replied, "Your Majesty, it's about an incense stick's time ago!"
"While I was leading troops to inspect the gates of the imperial city, I arrived at Chengtian Gate and witnessed Hu Dalin wielding a knife and injuring someone; Guangling Earl Wu Feng lay in a pool of blood."
"I immediately ordered the Jinwu Guard soldiers accompanying me to take control of Hu Dalin and his party of five and to take them to the Jinwu Guard's garrison for temporary custody. Afterwards, I will go to Kunning Palace to meet Your Majesty."
Chen Huai'an then asked, "Who else knows about this?"
Xiao Po replied, "Your Majesty, apart from the person involved, myself, and the Imperial Guards who accompanied me, no one else knows."
Um!
Chen Huai'an nodded and ordered, "Xiao Po, I command you to interrogate Hu Dalin and his group tonight to find out the whole story."
"Furthermore, no one is allowed to disclose even a single word about the case until the facts are clear."
Go!
"Your subject obeys the decree!"
After receiving instructions from Emperor Zhaowu, Chen Huai'an, Marquis Zhongyi Xiao Po immediately accepted the order and left.
Chen Huai'an remained seated in the outer hall of Kunning Palace for a long time, his starry eyes filled with a gloomy gaze.
A death occurred on the very first day of the founding ceremony and investiture ceremony.
It seems that some people in this new dynasty want to express their dissatisfaction with him as emperor through this "bloodshed and death" method!
In fact, even without Xiao Po interrogating Hu Dalin and his group overnight, Chen Huai'an could probably guess the whole story.
Clearly, these arrogant and fierce generals from the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun were dissatisfied with the emperor's bestowal of honors upon Liu Ziyu and wanted to speak out on his behalf.
What Chen Huai'an couldn't be sure of was whether any former generals or officials from the Southern dynasty who had surrendered were involved.
Of the sixty people who were granted the titles of Duke, Marquis, and Earl by the Tang Dynasty, six of the Dukes were generals directly under Chen Huai'an; of the eighteen Marquises, only three were generals who had surrendered from the previous dynasty; and of the thirty-six Earls, only twelve were civil and military officials from the previous dynasty.
Of the sixty people who received the title, forty-eight were from the North, while only twelve were from the South.
As a result, with the conclusion of the investiture ceremony, the political landscape of the Tang Dynasty would undergo subtle changes.
This is not just a conflict between the emperor and powerful ministers, but also a conflict between the interest groups of the previous dynasty and the noble groups of the new dynasty, as well as between the interest groups in the north and the interest groups in the south.
Chen Huai'an had a premonition that the arrogant and fierce generals of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun breaking into the palace gates at night was just the beginning of the conflict.
There will be more things to give him a headache in the future!
"There are so many things to do!"
Eh—
Chen Huai'an leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply, closing his eyes to ponder the future path of the Tang Dynasty.
The next day.
Before the court assembly, Xiao Po, the Marquis of Loyalty and Righteousness, who had interrogated Hu Dalin and his entourage overnight, reported Hu Dalin's confession to Emperor Zhaowu Chen Huai'an before he went to court.
Hu Dalin and his group were quite straightforward, taking all the responsibility upon themselves and never mentioning their good brother Liu Ziyu.
Looking at the confessions, the men unanimously claimed that they had a quarrel with Wu Feng, the Earl of Guangling, who was on duty at Chengtian Gate, after drinking, and that's why they accidentally killed him. Chen Huai'an couldn't help but sneer repeatedly.
As he expected, the civil and military officials of Youyun Prefecture had become deeply entrenched and monolithic after hundreds of years of development. It would be harder than climbing to heaven to get any useful information out of them.
Although the Dragon City Guards' spies in Jinling City had witnessed Hu Dalin and his group leaving Liu Ziyu's banquet and riding straight into the palace;
However, Chen Huai'an did not want to use this as an excuse to purge the Youyun nobles and arrogant generals in the court at the very beginning of the new dynasty.
On the one hand, he did not have any substantial evidence to show that Hu Dalin and his group were instigated by Liu Ziyu, the chief military commander of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, to commit manslaughter during their nighttime intrusion into the palace.
On the other hand, now that the new dynasty has just been established, the generals in charge of guarding the important border towns of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun are all Youyun generals of Liu Ziyu's faction. If the Youyun nobles in the court are purged at this time, it may provoke a mutiny on the border.
In the end, it will be the people and citizens of the Tang Dynasty's border regions who suffer!
Furthermore, the high-ranking officials in the southern provinces will likely try to discern the emperor's intentions in handling this matter. If they discover that the emperor intends to purge the former officials, they may well harbor rebellious thoughts.
Ultimately, Chen Huai'an decided to handle the matter discreetly, avoiding any escalation, and to deal with Hu Dalin and the others in accordance with the "Great Tang Code".
During the court assembly that day, Chen Huai'an handed the matter over to the Ministry of Justice for handling.
The Ministry of Justice responded quickly: Hu Dalin and his accomplices had committed crimes such as illegally possessing military equipment, breaking into the palace at night, and accidentally killing someone. According to the Tang Dynasty Code, they were sentenced to death for multiple offenses.
Furthermore, given the egregious nature of the case, the Ministry of Justice recommended a severe punishment, deciding to behead Hu Dalin and the others at Caishikou in Nanjing three days later as a warning to others.
As the key figure in the first case of the Tang Dynasty, Marquis Liu Ziyu of Wuyi only learned from other people after the court session that day that Hu Dalin and others had broken into the palace gates the night before.
The news came that Wu Feng, the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard and the Earl of Guangling, was accidentally killed, and was subsequently sentenced to death by the Ministry of Justice at today's court assembly, with the execution scheduled for three days later.
Upon hearing this news, Liu Ziyu collapsed into a chair at the inn.
Liu Ziyu did not attend court today. According to the arrangements made by the Ministry of Rites for civil and military officials from various regions who went to Beijing to participate in the Emperor's enthronement ceremony and investiture ceremony, after the investiture ceremony on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the civil and military officials from various regions must set off to return to their respective posts immediately.
Therefore, Liu Ziyu should lead the civil and military officials of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun back to their posts today to continue guarding the border for the Tang Dynasty.
Liu Ziyu kept postponing his departure from Beijing because Hu Dalin and his group of five had not returned in time.
He even clung to a sliver of hope, fantasizing that perhaps Hu Dalin's nighttime intrusion into the palace to meet the Emperor had changed the Emperor's mind and brought him some good news.
Unexpectedly, he ultimately failed to see the return of his top general, Hu Dalin.
But what they received was news that Hu Dalin and his group of five would be executed at Caishikou three days later.
At that moment, Liu Ziyu felt cold sweat pouring down his face, and fear welled up inside him.
"General, Your Highness, Your Highness has arrived!"
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